The chairperson of the Local Government Service Commission has said that lack of necessary tools - legal and policy documents - impeded them in doing their work effectively.

The Local Government Service Commission administers the affairs of local government (council) staff.

Testifying before the ongoing commission of inquiry into local government issues, he disclosed: "We had issues of getting our tools and that also created a gap. It took a while before we got the required tools that we needed for the operational modalities. These are the legal and policy documents, like the Local Government Act and regulations, and even other acts.

"We requested for the Local Government Act, the Local Government Finance and Audit Act, the Labour Act, the regulations, the Local Government Staff Service Regulation and the Local Government Service Commission Regulation, the Finance and Accounting Manual and the Scheme of Service."

Questioned whether they made requests for these legal and policy documents, he told the Commission that they made mention of these documents in their inaugural meeting.

He affirmed that they were not given these documents at the time of their assumption of office, adding: "I can't remember exactly because they were given in piecemeal. For the Act, we got it two weeks back. We got the regulations and financial manual earlier. None was given at the time we took office. [It was] then we raised that concern that these documents must be made available for us to effectively carry out our functions."